Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Chapter 414 Returning to the Ant Hole

"So this is how it is here."

Diana turned aside, letting a worker ant carrying a twig walk past her, and behind that worker ant was a large army.

"Why did you insist on coming along?" Charles asked, holding up his torch and glancing back.

The former president of the Crusades behind him was like a curious child, peering into each opening to see the layout inside.

Previously, Charles inspected the team's training and was completely "shocked" by their fierce performance.

The minotaurs charged at the centaurs in the distance, their upper bodies bare. If the centaurs' arrows hadn't been made of wood coated with white powder, countless minotaurs would have fallen in that charge.

However, the Tauren no longer perform war dances before battles, supposedly because they've been terrified of Diana.

Having witnessed such a "tragic" exercise, Charles decided to go to the anthill to see if the queen ant had any other ideas.

He now employs a large number of worker ants and less than ten soldier ants, and needs to pay the colony a lot of honey. This has led to honey becoming a major resource consumed by the colony, almost as much as food.

"They're piling up all those leaves, and some ants are spreading them out," Diana said in amazement, pointing to a chamber where worker ants were working, which astonished her.

"Oh, they're planting," Charles said directly.

"Planting?"

"Yes, use those leaves to grow white fungus." Charles also walked over, and as the torch got closer, Diana could see the far end of the cave. There, a large number of leaves were piled up, covered with a thick layer of white fungus. Moreover, these fungi were quite large, and there were many worker ants tending to the fungi, seemingly controlling their density.

"That's their food," Charles said, pointing to the white fungi. "You wouldn't believe it, would you? These enormous creatures are actually herbivores."

"You said before that they were hunted by those giant spiders and giant bees." Diana wanted to go into the cave, but was pulled back by Charles.

"Don't go in," Charles quickly explained. "The environment inside has been prepared by the worker ants to be perfect for fungal growth. And once these worker ants that cultivate fungi enter the chamber, they basically don't come out again. If you go in, you might damage the environment here."

The fungi in the ant nest are actually quite fragile. The former queen ant had mentioned this to Charles, so he has never entered the fungal cultivation chamber. He only employs the worker ants that transport branches outside, making him a "field worker".

"That thing—" Diana whispered, looking at the white fungus in the distance.

However, Charles immediately understood what she meant and said directly, "Don't even think about it, we can't eat that stuff."

Neither goblins nor humans have the ability to digest this fungus. If they were to eat it rashly, the worst they would likely suffer from diarrhea for several days.

"But there are so many fungi here." Diana looked up and surveyed the entire cave. This underground fungal cultivation chamber was very spacious, with a ceiling that was six or seven meters high. Several supporting pillars were still preserved in the middle, making one marvel at the architectural art of ants.

"Now we just have to wait for the results of the mushroom cultivation. If it's successful, we can plant it. You've probably heard of mushroom people, right?" Charles said from the side.

"I know that those races who live in mushroom forests, their mushroom forests are said to grow up to ten meters tall."

"So you don't need to envy these ants. We'll try to grow mushrooms that are several meters tall." Charles smiled, and at the same time, he planned to see if the ants would accept these mushrooms.

After all, the clan can no longer produce honey and has to purchase large quantities of honey from Torch City. These giant ants are no longer restricted by giant spiders and bees, and their numbers have begun to increase. A large area outside the anthill has already had half of the leaves harvested from the trees.

The original collection area was less than half of the current area. If the ants are allowed to continue to grow like this, a large area of ​​leaves will become their food.

It wasn't that Xia Er felt sorry for the trees in the forest; these giant ants had preserved the collective consciousness of their species very well, and they still adhered to the survival habit of only collecting half of the leaves from the trees.

He was just afraid that the giant ants would attract the attention of other people with ulterior motives. After all, having experienced so much, especially the recent Cunningham incident, Charles felt more and more that the Nightmare Forest was a huge treasure trove for the outside world.

Humans cannot live here for more than 3 days. Even Diana spends her days in the forest and returns to Goat Horn through the portal in the evening.

However, if adventurers form a team of more than five people, they might try to spend the night in the forest so that they can venture deeper into it.

Shire had previously seen some abandoned wooden cabins in the forest, some of which had completely collapsed, proving that adventurers still ventured deep into the woods.

If adventurers' income decreases, they will inevitably venture deeper into the forest.

"We need to hurry. It would be best if the ants could eat those mushrooms too." Charles glanced at the white fungus in the distance, wondering how the evil book's life experiments were going. Last time, it said they were almost finished.

"Shall we go see the queen ant now?" Diana finished her "study" of the cave and turned to ask Charles.

"Hmm." Charles didn't say anything more, just nodded and led the way.

After walking a short distance, Diana suddenly exclaimed, "They're so small!"

This sound made Xia Er stop in his tracks, and as soon as he stopped, a group of larvae surrounded him.

These young ants, clearly newly hatched, were waving their antennae as they gathered around Xia Er, their antennae constantly touching him as if searching for some recognizable signal.

"They look like big dogs." Diana reached out, wanting to touch them but not daring to, so she just stood there, watching the baby ants crawl around her.

Charles glanced at Diana, shook his head, and then took a large piece of honey from his backpack. "Here you go, take this."

After saying that, he threw the honey over.

After Diana caught it, he took out another large piece of honey.

The two of them then broke off pieces of honey in their hands and fed them to the ant larvae around them one by one.

"I have to say, this is my first time feeding ants," Diana said, pushing away the "enthusiastic" ants. "If someone had told me a month ago that I would be feeding such big ants, I would have given them a good beating."

"Why?" Charles asked, puzzled.

"It's simple. If what they say is true, then my size will definitely become very small, and this kind of shapeshifting spell is usually not a good thing." Diana sighed. "An arcane mage's shrinking spell only reduces a person to half their original size, but if it can shrink to the size of an ant, you can imagine how evil this magic is."

Upon hearing this, Charles simply shrugged. He already bore the "Advanced Shapeshifting Curse," so that kind of evil shrinking magic was nothing to him.

Nothing could be worse than becoming a goblin.

"That's about it. If we go any further down, we'll reach the queen's egg-laying chamber." Charles slowly pushed aside the larvae beside him.

These ant larvae must have been "taught" one by one that goblins are not enemies, and they may even recognize them as their own kind, so they did not exhibit any aggressive behavior.

This sometimes made Charles quite envious. This kind of unified collective consciousness is really useful sometimes; just one command is enough to get all the members to obey.

In contrast, goblins are practically "born rebellious." These guys are lazy whenever they can. If it weren't for someone watching over them, and the abundance of food and novelties as incentives, Sharl believes his tribe would definitely become increasingly disorganized.

There's no way around it; spring has arrived, the plants in the forest are starting to sprout, and the insects, mice, and birds that were hiding in tree holes or underground have all crawled out.

Goblins that go out to gather resources often find these "snacks," which slows down the gathering speed of the team.

Faced with this situation, Charles didn't have any good solutions for the time being. He considered whether to divide the tribe into different jobs, introduce wages and commerce, and completely bring the tribe into a "private ownership society".

But the thought that this approach was too ambitious, and that goblins, though rather foolish, were quite clever and would surely find a more suitable "way of the game," was too much to ask.

Therefore, Xia Er can only leave it at that for now. It is estimated that only after the education of the cave goblin Lan Lori and the others has yielded some results can they embark on the path of social division of labor.

It's appropriate to introduce the concept of commerce when goblins can count to 20 or higher, know that they need to stockpile food, know that they can use their stockpiled items to trade with other goblins, and can even calculate the price difference themselves.

"Is it just ahead?" Diana looked around and saw several worker ants carrying crystal-clear white eggs passing by her.

"Yes, it's just ahead." Charles nodded.

He made a pact with the ants, which now allows him to move freely within the anthill, and the ants will not attack his other minions when they come here. This allows the goblin to easily put the "Runeword Mind" on the worker ants and thus control them.

As they were talking, the two arrived at a huge cave.

On the circular platform in the center of the cave, the newborn queen ant has grown up and is now lying on the platform, constantly wriggling her abdomen.

However, compared to the previous queen ant, the newborn ant is still much smaller in size, but it should be able to continue to grow.

Meanwhile, the queen ant was already diligently laying eggs. For an ant colony, the inability of the queen to lay eggs meant the demise of the colony.

"Hero, you've arrived," the little ant queen said joyfully, her tentacles touching Charles's forehead.

"It seems you have taken over your mother's mission." Charles reached out and touched the tentacles, while Diana behind him stared wide-eyed at the enormous queen ant in front of her.

This queen ant was several times larger than the soldier ants, and according to what Charles had said before, it should have been less than half a year old. This made Diana very curious about how the queen ant grew so quickly to such a size.

"Its growth rate is so fast," Diana said hesitantly.

"Yes, I was surprised too," Charles said casually. "But after all, it's a modified life form, and also a magical beast. If we want to know the specifics, I think we'll have to ask Cunningham."

Like the Spider Queen and the Bee Queen, the Ant Queen in front of them was also a magical beast. Its originally black and white body was now emitting wisps of black smoke. However, like those two creatures, the other members of the ant colony were not magical beasts, but rather a kind of modified life form.

"At first, it wasn't a magical beast when it was born," Charles gently patted the little queen ant's antennae. "However, ant colonies have a tradition that when the queen ant dies, its body becomes food for the new queen ant. The little guy must have eaten its 'mother,' even the beast core, which is why it was able to grow so quickly."

"It's truly—" Diana shook her head slightly, "Amazing nature."

"Hero, what brings you here?" the little ant queen asked, shaking her antennae.

"There are some things," Charles said, pressing his forehead against his antennae. "I want to know what happens to your bodies when you ants die."

As he spoke, he took out a piece of honey from the backpack behind him, slowly broke off a piece, and held it to the little ant queen's mouth.

The queen ant extended her antennae from near her mouth, quickly touched the honey, and then, without any warning, ate it.

"In my colony, there is indeed life and death," the little queen ant replied slowly. A hint of joy could be heard in her voice, probably from the pleasure of being fed by Sharl. "The bodies of those who have died will be transported to the very bottom of the nest."

"At the very bottom?" Ciel broke off another piece of honey.

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Why do I feel like the queen ant's antennae are waving faster? Does she really enjoy being fed by you?"

"Oh?" Charles didn't seem to care and just smiled. "I was right there when it was born. I even held it when it was a kitten."

"Hmm?" Diana looked at the goblin in front of her again, her eyes even showing a hint of envy.

After feeding the ant colony, Charles waved his hand and said, "Let's go. The queen ant has already told me about the situation of the ant colony."

"What did it say?" Diana asked curiously.

"Perhaps what we're looking for is at the very bottom of the anthill." With that, Charles held up his torch and walked out of the cave.

Diana turned to look at the enormous queen ant, then at her own palm. She felt a pang of regret; she had just fed such a large piece of honey to the larvae. If she had a piece more, she might have been able to feed the queen.

Despite her regret, she quickened her pace to keep up with Charles, and the two continued their exploration downwards in the ant hole until they reached a horizontal corner.

After taking only a few steps inside, a strange smell entered his nostrils, causing Charles's expression to change slightly. "It seems it should be just ahead."

"What's that smell?" Diana covered her nose with her hand.

"The smell of decay," Charles said nonchalantly, referring to what was likely an ant "graveyard."

These ants will transport the corpses of their own kind here, and the reason for building a corner is probably to prevent the rotting corpses from affecting the fungal cultivation chamber on the top floor.

As they went deeper, the smell grew stronger and more unpleasant, forcing the two to cover their mouths and noses and try their best to keep going.

Soon, after passing through the passage and entering the cave, a huge cave, much larger than any of the ant caves, appeared before them.

However, to their shock, Charles and Diana lowered their hands from their mouths and noses to find a mountain of ant remains.

Those chitinous shells just sat there quietly, like a huge "treasure trove".